4.14.2011

Week 4: Book Review: Cowl Girls

Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the great participation in these giveaways! I'm glad that you are enjoying the reviews! I picked another winner from last weeks drawing. Congratulations j*e*n!

This week I will be reviewing the book Cowl Girls; The neck's big thing to knit by Cathy Carron. And it's at this point that my cursor remains stagnant blinking at me on the screen. What can I say about Cowl Girls? I feel so conflicted by positive and.. um... "less positive" feelings while I flip through its pages.

Let me start off by saying that I really do love cowls. In my opinion, they are the perfect neck warming accessory and I find them easy to knit and very stylish.

This book contains pretty much everything you would want to know about the cowl. I especially enjoyed pages 10-13 which cover all of the cowl basics. It explains what the differences are between cowls, gaiters, dickeys, snoods, and more. I have always wondered such things, so I really enjoyed this section. It also gives you three different methods to use when knitting up your cowl. I think this would be very helpful information for a beginning knitter.

The rest of the book contains 40 patterns for "neck-wear accessories". While the book kind of lumps all of these patterns into the "cowl" catagory, some are more fashion accessories then functional knitwear.

There are definitely some patterns that I genuinely like in here and could see myself wearing. Here are a few of my favorites.

But honestly, there are other patterns in this book that leave me scratching my head in confusion.

Keep in mind that I am a very conservative and boring person. :)

But if you really like bright colors and funky styles, you will probably love these patterns.

I do have to say that I am impressed by how inventive some of these designs are.

There are shapes and textures that I would have never imagined.

There are also many cowls knit up out of bulky yarns, making them probably super quick to knit up and great for beginners.

If you would like a chance to add this copy of Cowl Girls provided by Sixth and Spring Books to your personal knitting library, please leave a comment (only one per person please) under this blog post. Remember to please include your contact information in your comment.

I will be choosing and announcing the winner next week! So be sure to check back! :)

128 comments:

I don't think of myself as very conservative, but that thing with the balls... seriously? It looks like a string of buoys. Not trying to be mean, but I really don't get it. I do like the ones you picked, though. Very cute!

I had the same sort of reaction when I picked up this book. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED some of them, and I would love to own this book, but yeah, some really weird ones. I think it's funny that they're at the end of the book, more of a "Well, we've gotten you to look at the book thus far so HERE ARE SOME WEIRD ONES!"

Please enter me in the book giveaway. In addition to Honeycomb (the first cowl you showed), World's Fair and Neverending Story look nice enough to knit, and perhaps a few of the others will offer technically interesting aspects to master! Thank you ...

Hi Alana, so glad to see and hear everything is going so well for you. I agree on this book entirely (it's on my wishlist) I have looked at some of them and thought really?!?!?! but then I guess it wouldn't do if we were all the same. Thanks for the chance to win a copy, have a good weekend, Seona

Um... Ok... It has some interesting stuff. But is it enough to purchase? I just don't know. I'm going to need to take a look at it. I just don't know if I want a garland for my neck. It seems there are a lot of those.

I got this book out of the library because I wanted to check it out before I bought it and I have to agree with you, I am totally conflicted. There were definitely some patterns that I would love to make, but not nearly as many as I would like when I buy a book. The perfect answer: I can win the book! Yay! LOL Thanks for another great giveaway :)jwitt33@live.com

This is a great book for people who want to make bold cowls. I'm much more conservative and found that there were only two that I could see myself knitting. One was School Ties and the other was True Brit.

I took this book out of the library to see if it would be worth purchasing. Like you, there were some that I was like "who would EVER wear that!" but there were some that I could see making for myself, family and friends. It's currently on my amazon wish list. Would love to win my won copy!! Thanks!

I think many of the cowls can be improved by knitting with finer gauge yarn. The dickie for example might even be functional if knit finely. Big chunky knits rarely look good on anyone but the very tall and very thin.

I desinged my own cowl this past winter and love it. Soooo warm and yes stylish. This has some great ideas love the varigated one you chose, wonderful. Thanks for the reviews. I have considered getting this book myself. PS I am not conservative ,but as a designer myself I don"t think these were pulled off too well,just saying....

I totally agree: some of the patterns look a bit too crazy (the huge balls around your neck?!! It looks like a Christmas tree!), but from the covers and some of the close-up pictures you showed in your review, some of these patterns look great (especially the gray lace one).

I must agree with you- some of those cowls are...strange to say the least. BUT there are a few that I was actually considering buying the book in order to get! So glad you're doing these book reviews/giveaways!katherinelynn_04 (at) yahoo.com

I agree. I have mixed feelings about this book as well. I have seen it and I think there are a few nice designs. If there are at least five in a book, than I feel it isn't a bad buy, but winning it would be even better.

I live out in a semi country area in New Jersey and have started to pick up knitting in the past year (after knitting on and off for years). I have asked people I know about knitting them scarves for christmas and they are like "I already have a scarf". They, and I admit myself also, have never really looked at cowls. It might be a New Jersey thing, who knows. Here, though, it seems neck wear is something that matches your coat, if you have two, you are set.

There are some in the book that makes me say "Oh my" but there are many that give a wow reaction. To see what can be done with cowls is amazing. They are not just something to keep your neck warm but a major fashion statement. They show that cowls can give your wardrobe a pop, a really stellar look.

I think a good knitting design book shouldn't just be that is pretty but also contain items that makes us think about fashion, that takes us that next step beyond our comfort zone at times. This book definitely does that.

I like your choices, but I also kinda like the big chain! Different strokes, I guess. I'd love to have a long look at this book, I'm sure I'd find several more ideas. Thanks for the giveaway! AnnBan on Ravelry.

I've been wanting to take a look at the patterns inside this book for a while now. Now after seeing those wacky cowls I'm even more curious! I'm pretty basic myself, but I'm sure I could find something in there that I'd love! kristinaswearingen at gmail dot com

I resisted cowls for a long time and then realized how amazing they are. I had a similar reaction to the book that you did, some patterns I LOVE and can't wait to get my needles on, others I just tried to imagine the person who is funky enough to pull the look off.

Thank you for your review and hosting this great giveaway! I'd definitely be interested in this book as I'm working on my first cowl now. I'd like to see the section you were talking about explaining the different types of neckware and extreme or not, it would be fun to see how creative people can be with knitwear!

I definitely agree, there are some great cowl patterns in that book! I especially love the "Aran-Go-Braid" and the ones that you posted, and I think maybe the burgundy dickey looking "Good Investment" pattern is meant to be more functional, like to be warm under a coat? Regardless, I would love to win this book and make some of the really cute cowls from it! ;)